"Poor people! So brave and so unfortunate!" and he held out his hand to the young man. "Wait," said the latter; "before doing me this honor, you must know--" "Every Pole is brave," said Pichegru. "Every exile has the right to the hand-clasp of a patriot." But the Pole seemed to take a certain pride in refusing to accept this courtesy until he had proved that he had a right to it. He pulled out a little leathern bag which he wore upon his breast, as the Neapolitans wear their amulets, and took a folded paper from it. "Do you know Kosciusko?" asked the young man, his eyes flashing as he spoke. "Who does not know the hero of Dubienka?" exclaimed Pichegru. "Then read that," said the Pole, handing him the note. Pichegru took it and read as follows: I recommend to all men who struggle for independence and the liberty of their country, this brave man, son of a brave man, brother of a brave man. He was with me at Dubienka. T. KOSCIUSKO. "You have a fine brevet of bravery there, sir," said Pichegru; "will you do me the honor to become my aide-de-camp?" "I should not do you much service, and I should not be avenging myself; it is vengeance that I seek." "And against whom--Russians, Austrians or Prussians?" "Against all three, since they are all oppressing and devouring unhappy Poland; but I hate the Prussians most." "Where do you come from?" "Dantzic. I belong to the old Polish race which, after having lost Poland in 1308, reconquered it in 1454, and defended it against Etienne Battori in 1575. From that day Dantzic has always held a Polish party ready to revolt, and which did revolt at Kosciusko's first call. My brother, my father and I seized our guns and placed ourselves under his orders. "Thus we, my father, my brother and myself, found ourselves among four thousand men who defended the fort of Dubienka for five days against sixteen thousand Russians, when we had had only one day to fortify it. "Some time later Stanislas yielded to Catherine's will. Kosciusko, unwilling to become the accomplice of the Czarina's lover, sent in his resignation, and my father, my brother and I returned to Dantzic, where I resumed my studies. "One morning we learned that Dantzic had been ceded to the Prussians. There were among us at least two thousand patriots who protested with one hand and took up arms with the other; this tearing asunder of our native land, this dismemberment of our dear Poland, seemed to us a direct appeal, after moral protestation, to material protestation--the protestation of blood with which it is necessary to water the nations in order that they may not die. We went to meet the body of Prussians who had come to take possession of the city; they were ten thousand in number, and we were eighteen hundred. "A thousand of us remained upon the battlefield. In the three days that followed three hundred died of their wounds. Five hundred remained.